Courtesy: NZ Football Web Site


Girls and women help shape futsal framework

The ASB Futsal Girls and Women's Tournament not only found a winner on the court, but served a wider purpose in helping develop the game.

November 5, 2012

AUCKLAND – The recently completed ASB Futsal Girls and Women's Tournament has proved a catalyst for New Zealand Football to integrate futsal and women’s football development.

On the court Mainland Red defeated all-comers, including NSW Super League champions Sutherland Shire, on their way to claiming back-to-back titles in the open category.

Waikato-BOP Rotorua won the U-15 category going through the six match group stage unbeaten and defeating Mainland in the final.

"The standard has dramatically improved, which is pleasing because we haven’t put a framework for girls and women's futsal in place," said NZF Futsal Development Manager Dave Payne, "but what we have done is deliver a FIFA Level 1 Futsal Coaching Course in May and many of the coaches were on that course."

Off the court NZF Women's Development Manager Emma Humphries was a keen observer of the tournament as a whole after helping out at the tournament last year in her role with Capital Football.

"I went with a purpose this year to get a feel for where girls and women’s futsal is at and to see what the current futsal structure is like," said Humphries.

Both Payne and Humphries are no strangers to integrating their respective disciplines into a bigger picture.

"Futsal and women’s football come under Goal 5 of the NZF Strategic Plan which is to 'Expand the Game', so it makes sense for us to integrate and work together in order to grow the game," said Payne.

The majority of the girls junior framework is played as small sided games so the inclusion of five-a-side futsal would not be difficult, although Humphries believes a dedicated female pathway would need to be developed to build a long-term strategy for getting more girls and women into futsal.

"I think it's important to add a girls-only pathway, because while there are a lot of girls playing, they’re often playing in mixed futsal competitions.

For the sport to succeed long-term girls would prefer to play with girls, so if we want to get them hooked early you have to offer a girls-only pathway which is exactly what we’ve done with football," said Humphries.






Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com